Improved apparatus for buoying vessels



llNiTEn STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

THOMAS GATO MOKEEN, OF IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEW YORKSUBMARINE COMPANY.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BUOYING VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,858, dated July 3l,1866.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS GATO MOKEEN, ofIrvington, in the county of Essex, State of New Jersey, United States ofAmerica, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Buoying and ElevatingShips or Boats, and raising submerged or sunken vessels and objects, andof constructing, valving, netting, and operating the buoys therefor; andI do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents myapparatus applied to a boat, shown in longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is atransverse section taken through the boat, exhibiting the buoys arrangedunder the same. Figs. 3 and Il are views of buoys of different forms ofconstruction.

My present invention has for its object to give strength to the buoyused for raising vessels and objects submerged or sunkenin water; tofurnish it with a man-hole, through which it can be entered to befinished or repaired; to relieve it, more than can be done by any otherprocess, from strain when inated and exerting its lifting power, bytransferring the strain to the netting or cordage with which it iscovered; to furnish it with the means of relieving itself from theinterior pressure requisite for its inflation at great depths in thewater as it rises toward the surface, and not only simultaneously tolill or inflate by means of compressed air all the buoys that may beused in an operation, but also to inflate any one or more ofthem at atime, as may be desired.

The accompanying drawings, forming a part l of this specification anddescription, will suflice to illustrate the general features of myinvention; but in making them the form and proportions ofthe apparatusas willbe adopted in practice are not preserved.

In the drawings, A represents a vessel or air-receiver, which may beconcealed in the hold of the vessel Bor placed in a suitable situationon deck. This vessel or receiver is to contain condensed airforiniiating the buoys, and this airis supplied to the vessel or receiver Aby suitable air-pumps. This receivermay be constructed in one singlecompartment, or may be a succession of cylinders or compartments ofother shapes, connected by pipes or other communications provided withfaucets or valves, so that any one or more of them may have the aircompressed into them without filling the others, or may have the air letout of them without emptying the others, or may all be simultaneouslyfilled or discharged.

C is a main, which communicates with the vessel A by means of a pipe, D.Attached to this main pipe C, on either side of it, and at suitabledistances along its line, are flexible or other branch pipes E, eachprovided with its own cock or faucet. These pipes communicate,respectively, with the bags or buoys F, which can be inflated by openingtheir communications with the receiver A, when the compressed air rushesinto them; and when so inflated they serve the purpose of buoys orfloats, and when not inflated can be packed away in a small compass.

These bags or buoys consist of cotton, hemp, linen, or other kind ofcanvas or cloth, coated with gum-elastic or some preparation of rubber,and of multiplied thicknesses, until the required strength is attainedto bear inflation with atmospheric air obtained from the vessel A, orthey may be made of any other suitable air-tight and watertight flexiblematerial. They are passed into the water in a collapsed condition, aremadefast to the vessel or other object to be buoyed or raised, and theircommunication with the air receiver or vessel A established. Wheniniiated they displace their bulk of water, and thereby exerttheir'lifting power.

In order to complete the strength of these floats or buoys, and toprevent their inj ury from contact with the surface of the vessel orother objects, and to transfer the strain from them when inflated andexerting their lifting power, I cover them with strongcordage, which isknit around them, similar to the netting on balloons, and which iswrought on rings or grummets at the bottom and top of the bags, or maybe formed by covering the buoys with vertical and horizontal strands ofcordage seized at the crossings or the strands may be so laid on thatthe horizontal strand may gradually wind from the top to the bottom ofthe buoy, or vice versa; or the strands may be united into a cable orhawser at the bottom of the buoy, which hawser, by being fastened to thevessel or object to be buoyed or raised, or passed under the saine, willdraw and hold the buoys in place.

It is better to make the covering of cordageslightly less indiametereach way than the buoys proper, the better to relieve theflexible material from strain and prevent its bursting.

The hose or iieXible pipe 'for conducting the air to the buoys isattached to the top, side, or bottom of the bag or buoy, as may bedesired, by strong metallic or other coupling, or the pipe itself may bea continuation of the material of which the bags or buoys proper aremade.

rIhe form of buoy best adapted for the purpose may be round, square, orcylindrical, or a combination of two or more of these forms, and of asize to meet the necessity of the case.

I also provide the buoys with a man-hole, to which may be fitted anair-tight metallic or other cover or head, the object of whichcontrivance is to enable a workman to perfectly close and finish theseams of the buoy on the inside, and also to enter the buoy to repair orstrengthen it. I leave an aperture in the covering of cordage, so thatthe bag or buoy proper may be introduced into it or taken out of it, asdesired. This aperture may be worked upon agrummet of rope or a ring ofmetal or wood, or may be made by leaving interstices in the strandsofthe cordage.

`In the use and management of the buoys, while the object or vessel isbeing elevated, care must be taken that the bags are not ruptured by thepressure of the air within them increasing as the buoys rise toward thesurface, thereby diminishing the external pressure of the water upon thebuoys in an increasing ratio.

To obviate this danger I provide the buoys with safety-valves graduatedto open at certain degrees of pressure 5 or the danger may be avoided bycarefully attending to opening the cocks or faucets inserted in thepipes through which the air is supplied to the buoys, or by an aperturein the bottom of the bags or buoys'.

J J are cocks on either end of the main c for the escape of the air fromthe buoys when they are to be packed away.

Although I use the main C, as shown in the drawings, I do not confinemyself to its use as a necessity, but I also inflate the buoys withoutits aid by substituting a pipe, forming a direct communication betweeneach bag or buoy and the receiver A; and this method docs not in theleast interfere with inflating all the buoys simultaneously, or one ormore of them at a time, as desired.

I disclaim the invention of the safety-valve; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The use and application of the air reservoir or receiver A, incombination with the bags or buoys F, (whether connected togetherdirectly by the use of pipes or by the use of the .intermediate main 0,)and the method of constructing the air-receiver, the buoys, and netting,and of infiating the buoys by means of compressed air, the applicationto and use with the buoys of the common selfacting safety-valve, made toyield or discharge at a certain pressure, and the application and use ofthe manhole and its head to and with the buoys, the whole arranged andoperating substantially in the manner and for the purposes above setforth.

T. GATO MGKEEN. Witnesses:

ELLIOT F. SEEPARD, PETER D. KENNY.

